Men with advanced prostate cancer face the grim prospect of chemical or surgical castration to treat their disease – but a new option is equally effective, a new study shows.

The new drug, bicalutamide – known under the brand name Casodex – forms a protective shield around the prostate that prevents sex hormones from reaching the walnut-shaped gland.

“The common treatment for advanced prostate cancer is hormone manipulation by either surgical or chemical castration,” said Dr. John Anderson, a urologist at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, England, who conducted a study on the new treatment.

He reported his results at the annual American Urological Association meeting in Atlanta earlier this week.

“The problem is that by taking away all the male sex hormones, you take away all the other characteristics that drive men,” he added.

According to Anderson’s study of 500 patients, there was no difference in survival rates between men who had Casodex and those who were castrated.

The drug, though not yet commonly used, is expected to be in huge demand in Britain, where up to half the 17,000 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed each year are advanced and require hormone treatment.

In the United States, Anderson noted, 70 percent of men are diagnosed before the cancer spreads.